The Role of Indirect Effects in Food Webs

Abrams, Peter A.; Menge, Bruce A.; Mittelbach, Gary G.; Spiller, David A.; Yodzis, Peter

doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-7007-3_36

Cited by 302 publications

(319 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…Experiments suggest that these NCEs and associated trait-mediated indirect effects (i.e. indirect effects of the predator on other species through induced changes in traits of the intervening prey, sensu [4]) can be as or more important than the direct and indirect effects arising from CEs of predators (reviewed in [12][13][14][15][16]). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling-up anti-predator phenotypic responses of prey: impacts over multiple generations in a complex aquatic community

et al. 2011

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Non-consumptive effects (NCEs) of predators owing to induced changes in prey traits are predicted to influence the structure of ecological communities. However, evidence of the importance of NCEs is limited primarily to simple systems (e.g. two to four species) over relatively short periods (e.g. less than one generation). We examined the NCEs of a fish predator, arising from phenotypic plasticity in zooplankton prey traits, over multiple generations of a diverse zooplankton community. The presence of fish, caged to remove consumptive effects, strongly influenced zooplankton community structure, through both direct and indirect NCE pathways, altering the abundance of many taxa by magnitudes as large as 3 to 10-fold. Presence of fish affected different species of cladocerans and copepods both positively and negatively. A particularly striking result was the reversal of dominance in copepod taxa: presence of fish reduced the ratio of calanoids to cyclopoids from 6.3 to 0.43. Further, the NCE of fish had a strong negative trophic cascade to zooplankton resources (phytoplankton). To our knowledge, this is the first experiment to show that NCEs can influence the abundance of multiple prey species over time spans of multiple prey generations. Our findings demonstrate that adaptive phenotypic plasticity of individuals can scale-up to affect the structure of ecological communities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling-up anti-predator phenotypic responses of prey: impacts over multiple generations in a complex aquatic community

et al. 2011

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“…These early studies focused on the paramount role of predators, describing interactions that were later relabeled ''trophic cascades'' and ''keystone predation'' (3)(4)(5). Perhaps in part for these historical reasons, the discussion of indirect or ''cascading'' effects in ecological interaction webs has remained largely top-down and predator-centric (6), with much recent activity focusing on the mechanisms that determine the relative strength of trophic cascades across ecosystems (7,8) and the importance of nonlethal, trait-mediated predator effects (9,10).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, the apparent neglect of herbivores as potential initiators (sensu ref. 5) of interaction chains is troubling. Ungulates are particularly likely to serve in this capacity because of their large body sizes and energy requirements; Paine, whose work was critical in establishing the concepts of keystone predation (2) and trophic cascades (4), recently predicted that mammalian herbivores would be found to exert ''rampant indirect effects'' and urged ecologists to test for them (14).…”

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confidence: 99%

Herbivore-initiated interaction cascades and their modulation by productivity in an African savanna

Pringle

Young

Rubenstein

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

203

211

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Despite conceptual recognition that indirect effects initiated by large herbivores are likely to have profound impacts on ecological community structure and function, the existing literature on indirect effects focuses largely on the role of predators. As a result, we know neither the frequency and extent of herbivore-initiated indirect effects nor the mechanisms that regulate their strength. We examined the effects of ungulates on taxa (plants, arthropods, and an insectivorous lizard) representing several trophic levels, using a series of large, long-term, ungulate-exclusion plots that span a landscape-scale productivity gradient in an African savanna. At each of six sites, lizards, trees, and the numerically dominant order of arthropods (Coleoptera) were more abundant in the absence of ungulates. The effect of ungulates on arthropods was mediated by herbaceous vegetation cover. The effect on lizards was simultaneously mediated by both tree density (lizard microhabitat) and arthropod abundance (lizard food). The magnitudes of the experimental effects on all response variables (trees, arthropods, and lizards) were negatively correlated with two distinct measures of primary productivity. These results demonstrate strong cascading effects of ungulates, both trophic and nontrophic, and support the hypothesis that productivity regulates the strength of these effects. Hence, the strongest indirect effects (and thus, the greatest risks to ecosystem integrity after large mammals are extirpated) are likely to occur in low-productivity habitats.bottom-up ͉ top-down ͉ ecosystem engineers ͉ food webs ͉ trophic cascades

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“…1b). Thus, from an ecological point of view, ecosystems becomes oversimplified when described by MLST (Polis, 1991;Abrams et al, 1996;Raffaelli et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%